I would say that O'neal would be in front of Ezeli even when he comes back. Great signing. Besides Iguodala, this was my favorite off-season signing. Toney Douglas is my next favorite. I don't like the Speights signing as of now.

8th ave wrote:I would say that O'neal would be in front of Ezeli even when he comes back. Great signing. Besides Iguodala, this was my favorite off-season signing. Toney Douglas is my next favorite. I don't like the Speights signing as of now.

Besides Iggy, I'm the total opposite of you, bra.

I like the Speights signing. With our shooters, a pick-and-pop smashmouth 4 is a nice addition for our bench... and Toney is a peskier defender than I think most around here are giving him credit for.

But Jermaine is a big question mark to me. He looked done in Boston 2 years ago and a lot of veterans (Shaq, Grant Hill, Steve Nash) look a LOT older when they leave Phoenix' training staff. I like Jermaine as a shot-blocker for 8-10 minutes a night, but when Ezeli comes back, I think Jermaine is 3rd string. He's a finger-in-the-dyke kinda signing, you know? Somebody to stop the bleeding til Ezeli gets back... and an "oh-sh*t" bench sub in the event that Bogut goes down. But, yeah. I think Bogut, Ezeli, Speights & Lee (as small-ball centers) all outrank Jermaine on the depth charts. I just can't emphasize enough how good the Suns staff is and how broken some guys seem when they leave Phoenix. I'm looking at the Jermaine O'Neal from Boston moreso than the guy last year who resurrected on the Suns... and the guy who played for the Celtics was nothing to write home about.

That's my point though. You can't compare an old guy's production from Phoenix to anywhere else. The training staff in Arizona is head and shoulders above anything else in the league. Jermaine did great for the Suns, but there's no telling how he'll perform away from Phoenix's athletic trainers and voodoo witch doctors.

Exhibit A: Shaq looked done in Miami, then Phoenix got him and he made an all-star game again... But then once he left for Cleveland and Boston, he went back to looking burnt out again. Jermaine played well in Phoenix, but his body of work in Boston prior to that wasn't impressive. I'm not talking about games played; just his production on the court. Phoenix works wonders that we don't necessarily replicate.

They should have signed another Center. Right now Bogut and Jermaine are injuryprone players and are the only true Centers here. Someone like Mozgov or DeJuan Blair or would have been nice to add stability.